Play Golf, Not Golf-Swing with Billy Ray Brown

Golf doesn’t have to be complicated. In this episode, Jimmy Tropicana joins Mark to explain how golfers can improve their swings, lower their scores and enjoy the game more by releasing tension, slowing down and replacing technical overload with simple, athletic movements. Jimmy demonstrates how swinging a golf club can feel as natural as hitting a tennis ball, riding a playground swing or rolling a bowling ball. He also shares several of his most memorable swing concepts, including “Swing the V,” “Sheath the Sword,” “Become a Statue” and “Wave to the Camera.” Rather than chasing speed, perfect positions or complicated swing data, Jimmy encourages everyday golfers to focus on rhythm, tempo, balance and keeping the ball in play. He also explains the Tropicana Technique—his practical approach to playing smarter, avoiding unnecessary hero shots and moving the ball toward the hole one manageable shot at a time. In this episode, you’ll learn: • Why a tennis racket can help you understand the golf swing • The difference between swinging the club and hitting at the ball • Why slowing down can improve contact, rhythm and consistency • How “Swing the V” helps quiet the hands and simplify the motion • Why “Sheath the Sword” promotes rotation and commitment • How finishing like a statue improves balance • A simple “Wave to the Camera” drill for controlling the clubface • Why precision and course management often matter more than power • How the Tropicana Technique helps golfers keep the ball in play • Why one clear swing thought is usually better than several technical cues. This podcast is also available on YouTube where you will be able to watch Jimmy demonstrate his swing drills.

How do you create more clubhead speed without sacrificing center contact, control or the ability to repeat your swing under pressure? Mark Immelman sits down with respected golf instructor Adam Harrell, longtime coach of PGA TOUR player Michael Brennan, to explore the principles behind one of Mark’s favorite swings in professional golf. Harrell began working with Brennan as a young player with aspirations of reaching the PGA TOUR. From the beginning, speed was intentional—but never at the expense of fundamentals. The result is a swing built around center contact, neutral fundamentals, an efficient clubhead orbit, proper release, rhythm and the freedom to let the club move fast. Throughout the conversation, Mark and Adam unpack how everyday golfers can apply those same principles to their own games. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: Why speed should be trained as a skill How Michael Brennan developed clubhead speed from a young age Why center contact remains the foundation of distance How to increase speed without losing balance or control Why even a 1 mph improvement matters How a golfer’s mental “governor” can limit speed Why neutral fundamentals make a swing easier to repeat under pressure The importance of grip, setup, ball position and takeaway How the clubhead should naturally orbit around the golfer Why the body and club must work in harmony How the hands and arms contribute to speed Why energy transfer matters more than simply moving your body faster What golfers misunderstand about “flipping” and releasing the golf club How Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy demonstrate an effective release Simple drills for improving plane, release and clubhead speed How a metronome can improve putting distance control and full-swing tempo. Key Takeaways: Speed Is a Skill You Can Train - One of the most important ideas Harrell introduced to Brennan as a junior was simple: go faster intentionally. Instead of hoping speed would appear as his technique developed, they measured clubhead speed, established numerical goals and practiced producing progressively more speed. But there was an important condition: speed still had to work alongside center contact and a functional golf swing. One Mile Per Hour Is Still Progress - Golfers often expect dramatic increases when beginning speed training. Harrell recommends a more patient approach. Establish your current maximum, try to beat it and gradually raise the ceiling. One additional mile per hour may not sound dramatic, but incremental gains accumulate—and a few extra miles per hour can eventually translate into meaningful additional distance. Sometimes You Need Permission to Go Faster - Harrell shares the example of a 14-year-old student already swinging her driver around 96 mph. After challenging her to reach 100 mph, she broke through that barrier almost immediately. The lesson goes beyond physical ability: golfers sometimes place an unconscious ceiling on themselves. Giving yourself permission to swing faster can reveal speed you already possess. Build Speed on Top of Fundamentals - Michael Brennan’s swing is fast, but it is also exceptionally organized. Harrell emphasizes a neutral grip, sound ball position, proper alignment and a reliable setup before adding speed. His philosophy is to eliminate unnecessary variables so the golfer has fewer compensations to make during the swing. A neutral foundation makes it easier for the motion to repeat when pressure rises. Impact Is Everything - Drawing from his time working with Jim McLean and the influence of John Jacobs, Harrell repeatedly returns to impact. The objective is not simply to produce an attractive golf swing. The positions and aesthetics should serve a functional purpose: controlling the clubface, finding the center of the face and delivering the club efficiently. Speed is then layered on top of that structure. Let the Club Find Its Orbit - One of the defining characteristics of Brennan’s swing is the journey of the

What if you could make just 50 golf balls at the range more productive than an entire bucket of mindless practice? In this episode of The Mark Tribe, Mark sits down with Shy Desai, creator of Cure My Swing, to talk about how golfers can practice with more purpose, transfer their work from the range to the golf course, and ultimately shoot lower scores. Cure My Swing has grown into a community of roughly 400,000 followers across its platforms, curating golf tips, drills, and ideas designed to make improvement easier to understand and apply. At the center of the conversation is Shy’s 50-Ball Practice Plan — a structured range session designed to replace random ball-beating with intentional practice. Rather than grabbing a bucket and hitting the same club over and over, Shy breaks practice into specific stages that address warming up, technical development, course simulation, and the mental side of the game. The 50-Ball Practice Plan: Shy walks Mark through a practice session built around: Properly warming up before hitting balls. 5 wedge shots to loosen up and establish solid contact. 5 short-iron shots while progressively changing clubs. 20 balls of technical work and drills. 10 fairway-finder shots using a driver, fairway wood, or hybrid. 9 balls simulating three par-5 holes. 1 final shot with your favorite club. The goal isn’t simply to hit better-looking range shots. It’s to make practice resemble the decisions, routines, and pressure golfers experience on the course. Shy explains why golfers should combine block practice — working intentionally on a particular skill — with random practice that requires changing targets, clubs, and situations. That transition becomes especially important in his 10-ball fairway challenge and simulated par-5 exercise, where golfers are asked to visualize an actual hole, choose targets, go through their full pre-shot routine, and react to the outcome of each shot. The conversation also explores why golfers should keep notes after practice sessions. Tracking what worked, what didn’t, and where your common misses appeared can reveal patterns that help both future practice and on-course strategy. Mark and Shy then move into five areas golfers can focus on to lower their scores. 5 Ways to Lower Your Golf Scores: 5. Course Management. Know your tendencies instead of constantly fighting them. Shy discusses learning to “own” his natural fade and using that knowledge to make better decisions around the golf course. Good course management means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, distances, and common misses — and sometimes taking your medicine instead of attempting the heroic shot. 4. Driving Driving isn’t just about speed. The tee shot should set up the next shot. Shy encourages golfers to develop a reliable fairway finder and think about where they want to play their approach from before deciding what club or target to choose from the tee. As Shy explains, golfers may play the game from tee to green, but they should learn to think about the hole from green to tee. 3. Approach Play Know your actual distances. Shy explains why golfers need to understand both carry distance and total distance while also paying attention to dispersion. The objective isn’t necessarily firing at every flag. Sometimes simply finding the middle of the green — or leaving yourself in a manageable position for the next shot — produces much better scores. 2. Short Game Simplify your options. Golfers can become overwhelmed by the number of wedges and different short-game shots available. Shy recommends becoming extremely comfortable with one reliable club — for him, the pitching wedge — before adding more specialized options. Develop confidence from 100 yards and in, and your ability to recover when you miss a green improves dramatically. 1. Putting. Shy’s number-one priority is simple: Eliminate three-putts. Distance and speed control are critical, especially on long putts that many amateurs rarely practice

What if one of the most criticized ideas in modern golf instruction—being “handsy”—is actually one of the keys to playing better golf? Mark Immelman sits down with Ethan Bramble, founder of Handsy Golf, for a deep dive into a hands-first approach to the golf swing. Ethan challenges the body-first thinking that dominates much of modern golf instruction and argues that golfers should focus first on the one part of the body actually connected to the golf club: the hands. “The golf swing is decided in the hands, not the hips, not the shoulders, not the ground.” Throughout the conversation, Mark and Ethan explore grip, intent, pressure, clubface control, ground reaction forces, feel and the relationship between the golfer and the golf club. Ethan explains why he believes better communication between the hands and the club can help golfers self-correct, simplify their thinking and reduce the dreaded “paralysis by analysis.” In This Episode, You’ll Learn: Why Ethan believes the golf swing should be approached hands first. How intent travels from the mind to the golf club. Why “handsy” does not necessarily mean flipping or scooping. How grip and hand pressure influence clubface control. Why golfers should think about communicating with the golf club. The difference between body-first and hands-first instruction. Why Ethan views the body as supporting the hands rather than driving them. How overthinking rotation, ground forces and body positions can create paralysis by analysis. Why golf should feel more like other bat-and-ball sports. What Scottie Scheffler can teach golfers about grip and hand awareness. Why molded grips are gaining attention among elite players. How Tiger Woods used his hands to control and shape the golf club. Why feel and tactile awareness matter under pressure. What golfers misunderstand about “flipping” the club. How the ForceBall and Compact Club help golfers develop a better connection with the club. Key Takeaways: The Golf Swing Begins With Intent - Every golfer has an intention for the shot—whether that means hitting a draw, controlling trajectory or simply getting the ball into the fairway. Ethan believes the golfer’s job is to send that intention to the club as clearly as possible. The more complicated the message becomes through excessive thoughts about the hips, shoulders, spine and ground forces, the more that signal can become “muddied.” Golf, in his view, is ultimately a game of communication. “Handsy” Doesn’t Have to Be a Bad Word - Golf instruction has often treated excessive hand action as something golfers should eliminate. Ethan wants to reframe that idea. Rather than thinking about “handsy” as an uncontrolled flip or scoop, he describes it as an intentional awareness of how the hands influence and communicate with the club throughout the swing. Hands First Doesn't Mean Hands Only - Ethan isn't suggesting that the body has no role in the golf swing. Instead, he sees the body in a supporting role. When golfers correctly organize their hands, grip and the forces they apply to the club, he believes many desirable body movements—rotation, ground usage and sequencing—can occur naturally rather than being consciously manufactured. Stop Creating Paralysis by Analysis - Golf gives players more time to think than almost any other sport. That can be a problem. Tennis, baseball and other striking sports tend to be reaction-based. Golfers, however, can stand over a stationary ball thinking about dozens of positions and movements. Ethan believes bringing the focus back to the hands, the implement and the intended shot can make the swing feel more athletic and intuitive. Your Relationship With the Club Matters - The golf club is the golfer's instrument. Your hands are the only physical connection between your body and that instrument. Ethan describes this relationship almost like any other relationship: better communication creates a better connection. His goal is to help golfers feel h

In this episode of On The Mark, Mark Immelman is joined by PGA TOUR winner Jake Knapp for a candid and insightful conversation about golf swing development, tempo, power, trust, training, resilience, and learning how to compete at the highest level. Jake is known for one of the most admired golf swings in the game, but he shares that he has not always seen it that way. He talks openly about being too critical of his own motion, learning to give himself more credit, and understanding how small changes can make a major difference in performance over time. Mark and Jake discuss what it really takes to make a swing change that holds up under pressure. Jake explains how his work has been driven by statistics, consistency, repeatability, and finding feels that transfer from the range to the golf course. He also shares why golfers need to trust the work, get uncomfortable in practice, and recognize that improvement often comes through small, incremental gains rather than instant transformation. The conversation also covers Jake’s use of training aids, his left thumb injury and surgery, his approach to fitness, how he creates power without looking rushed, why his tempo appears so smooth, how he uses a mini driver as a fairway finder, and why golfers should embrace their own natural patterns instead of chasing every swing trend. This episode is packed with practical lessons for golfers who want to strike the ball better, swing with more freedom, train smarter, build trust under pressure, and understand how a PGA TOUR winner thinks through improvement. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: 🎙️ Why Jake Knapp has one of the most talked-about swings in golf. 🎙️ How Jake views his own swing and why he can be overly critical. 🎙️ Why golf improvement takes time, patience, and trust. 🎙️ How small swing changes can create major performance gains. 🎙️ Why tour-level changes should be statistics-driven, not just cosmetic. 🎙️ How Jake works through feels with his coach before taking them to the course. 🎙️ Why golfers must learn to trust swing changes under pressure. 🎙️ How discomfort in practice can help build belief on the course. 🎙️ Why incremental improvements are often more valuable than quick fixes. 🎙️ How Jake has used training aids and why he now keeps them simpler . 🎙️ What training aids can and cannot do for elite players \. 🎙️ How Jake turns technical thoughts into feels he can use on the golf course. 🎙️ What happened with Jake’s left thumb injury and surgery. 🎙️ Why Jake values general athletic training and physical presence. 🎙️ How fitness helps with speed, power, mobility, and difficult lies \. 🎙️ Why Jake’s tempo looks smooth even though he creates tremendous speed. 🎙️ How he uses big muscles instead of small muscles to create power. 🎙️ Why softness in the arms can help create speed and flow. 🎙️ How Jake thinks about heavy clubs and feeling the clubhead. 🎙️ Why golfers should be careful trying to copy another player’s swing. 🎙️ How Jake uses his mini driver as a fairway finder. 🎙️ Why distance should remain an advantage, not become a disadvantage. 🎙️ How Jake embraces his natural steep pattern instead of fighting it. 🎙️ Why resilience helped him through hard seasons, injury, and pressure. 🎙️ What Jake learned from winning on the PGA TOUR in Mexico. 🎙️ How his “W.I.N.” reminder — What’s Important Now — helps him compete. Key Takeaways: A good-looking golf swing still has to perform under pressure. Swing changes should be connected to better statistics, better patterns, and better scoring. Improvement is rarely instant. It can take months for an exaggerated feel to become a neutral pattern. The range and the golf course are different environments, so players must learn how to transfer feels into real shots. Trust is built by putting yourself in uncomfortable situations and learning from the result. Training aids can be helpful, but the goal is to eventually perform without them. Elite players often use si